THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS.
To go at all thoroughly into all the questions that may be raised
as to the date and character of the Christian writings in the
early part of the second century would need a series of somewhat
elaborate monographs, and, important as it is that the data should
be fixed with the utmost attainable precision, the scaffolding
thus raised would, in a work like the present, be out of
proportion to the superstructure erected upon it. These are
matters that must be decided by the authority of those who have
made the provinces to which they belong a subject of special
study: all we can do will be to test the value of the several
authorities in passing.
In regard to Clement of Rome, whose First (genuine) Epistle to the
Corinthians is the first writing that meets us, the author of
'Supernatural Religion' is quite right in saying that 'the great mass
of critics ... assign the composition of the Epistle to the end of the
first century (A.D. 95-100)' [Endnote 58:1]. There is as usual a right
and a left wing in the array of critics. The right includes several of
the older writers; among the moderns the most conspicuous figure is the
Roman Catholic Bishop Hefele. Tischendorf also, though as it is pointed
out somewhat inconsistently, leans to this side. According to their
opinion the Epistle would be written shortly before A.D. 70. On the
left, the names quoted are Volkmar, Baur, Scholten, Stap, and Schwegler
[Endnote 59:1]. Baur contents himself with the remark that the Epistle
to the Corinthians, 'as one of the oldest documents of Christian
antiquity, might have passed without question as a writing of the Roman
Clement,' had not this Clement become a legendary person and had so
many spurious works palmed off upon him [Endnote 59:2]. But it is
surely no argument to say that because a certain number of extravagant
and spurious writings are attributed to Clement, therefore one so sober
and consistent with his position, and one so well attested as this, is
not likely to have been written by him. The contrary inference would be
the more reasonable, for if Clement had not been an important person,
and if he had left no known and acknowledged writings, divergent
parties in the Church would have had no reason for making use of his
name. But arguments of this kind cannot have much weight. Probably not
one half of the writings attributed to Justin Martyr are genuine; but
no one on that account doubts the Apologies and the Dialogue with
Tryphon.
Schwegler [Endnote 59:3], as is his wont, has developed the opinion of
Baur, adding some reasons of his own. Such as, that the letter shows
Pauline tendencies, while 'according to the most certain traditions'
Clement was a follower of St. Peter; but the evidence for the Epistle
(Polycarp, Dionysius of Corinth, A.D. 165-175, Hegesippus, and
Irenaeus in the most express terms) is much older and better than
these 'most certain traditions' (Tertullian and Origen), even if they
proved anything: 'in the Epistle of Clement use is made of the Epistle
to the Hebrews;' but surely, according to any sober canons of
criticism, the only light in which this argument can be regarded is as
so much evidence for the Epistle to the Hebrews: the Epistle implies a
development of the episcopate which 'demonstrably' (nachweislich) did
not take place until during the course of the second century; what the
'demonstration' is does not appear, and indeed it is only part of the
great fabric of hypothesis that makes up the Tübingen theory.
Volkmar strikes into a new vein [Endnote 60:1]. The Epistle of Clement
presupposes the Book of Judith; but the Book of Judith must be dated
A.D. 117-118; and therefore the Epistle of Clement will fall about
A.D. 125. What is the ground for this reasoning? It consists in a
theory, which Volkmar adopted and developed from Hitzig, as to the
origin of the Book of Judith. That book is an allegorical or symbolical
representation of events in the early part of the rising of the Jews
under Barcochba; Judith is Judaea, Nebuchadnezzar Trajan; Assyria
stands for Syria, Nineveh for Antioch, Arphaxad for a Parthian king
Arsaces, Ecbatana for Nisibis or perhaps Batnae; Bagoas is the eunuch-
service in general; Holofernes is the Moor Lucius Quietus. Out of
these elements an elaborate historical theory is constructed, which
Ewald and Fritzsche have taken the trouble to refute on historical
grounds. To us it is very much as if Ivanhoe were made out to be
an allegory of incidents in the French Revolution; or as if the
'tale of Troy divine' were, not a nature-myth or Euemeristic legend
of long past ages, but a symbolical representation of events under
the Pisistratidae.
Examples such as this are apt to draw from the English reader a
sweeping condemnation of German criticism, and yet they are really
only the sports or freaks of an exuberant activity. The long list
given in 'Supernatural Religion' [Endnote 61:1] of those who
maintain the middle date of Clement's Epistle (A.D. 95-100)
includes apparently all the English writers, and among a number of
Germans the weighty names of Bleek, Ewald, Gieseler, Hilgenfeld,
Köstlin, Lipsius, Laurent, Reuss, and Ritschl. From the point of
view either of authority or of argument there can be little doubt
which is the soundest and most judicious decision.
Now what is the bearing of the Epistle of Clement upon the
question of the currency and authority of the Synoptic Gospels?
There are two passages of some length which are without doubt
evangelical quotations, though whether they are derived from the
Canonical Gospels or not may be doubted.
The first passage occurs in c. xiii. It will be necessary to give
it in full with the Synoptic parallels, in order to appreciate the
exact amount of difference and resemblance which it presents.
_Matt._ v. 7, vi. 14, |_Clem. ad Cor._ c. xiii. |_Luke_ vi. 36, 37, 31,
vii. 12,2. | | vi. 38, 37, 38.
| [Especially re- |
| membering the word |
| of the Lord Jesus |
| which he spake ... |
| For thus he said:] |
v. 7. Blessed are | Pity ye, that ye may | vi. 36. Be ye mer-
the pitiful, for they | be pitied: forgive, | ciful, etc. vi. 37. Ac-
shall be pitied. vi. | that it may be for- | quit, and ye shall be
14. For if ye for | given unto you. As | acquitted. vi. 3 1.
give men their tres- | ye do, so shall it | And as ye would
passes, etc. vii. 12. | be done unto you: | that they should do
All things therefore | as ye give, so shall | unto you, do ye
whatsoever ye would | it be given. unto you: | also unto them like
that men should do | as ye judge, so shall | wise. vi. 38. Give,
unto you, even so do | it be judged unto | and it shall be given
ye unto them. vii. 2. | you: as ye are kind, | unto you. vi. 3 7.
For with what judg- | so shall kindness be | And judge not, and
ment ye judge, ye | shown unto you: | ye shall not be
shall be judged: and | | judged.
with what measure | with what measure | For with what
ye mete, it shall be | ye mete, with it shall | measure ye mete, it
measured unto you. | it be measured unto | shall be measured
| you. | unto you again.
[GREEK TABLE]
_Matt._ v. 7, vi. 14, |_Clem. ad Cor._ c. xiii. |_Luke_ vi. 36, 37, 31,
vii. 12,2. | | vi. 38, 37, 38.
| |
v.7. makarioi hoi |eleeite hina eleaethaete.| vi. 36. ginesthe
eleaemones hoti autoi | |oiktirmones, k.t.l.
eleaethaesontai. | |
vi. 14. ean gar | aphiete hina aphethae | vi. 37. apoluete kai
aphaete tois anth. ta |humin. |apoluthaesesthe.
paraptomata auton. | |
vii. 12. panta oun | hos poieite houto | vi. 31. kai kathos
hosa ean thelaete hina |poiaethaesetai humin. |thelete hina poiosin
poiosin humin hoi anth.| |humin hoi anthropoi kai
houtos kai humeis | |humeis poieite autois
| |homoios poieite autois.
| hos didote houtos | vi. 38. didote, kai
|dothaesetai humin. |dothaesetai humin.
vii. 2. en ho gar | hos krinete houtos | vi. 37. kai mae
krimati krinete |krithaesetai humin. |krinete kai ou mae
krithaesesthe. | |krithaete.
| hos chraesteuesthe |
|houtos chraesteuthaesetai|
|humin. |
kai en ho metro | ho metro metreite en | vi. 38. to gar auto
metreite |auto metraethaesetai |metro ho metreite
metraethaesetai humin. |humin. |antimetraethaesetai
| |humin.
We are to determine whether this quotation was taken from the
Canonical Gospels. Let us try to balance the arguments on both
sides as fairly as possible. Dr. Lightfoot writes in his note upon
the passage as follows: 'As Clement's quotations are often very
loose, we need not go beyond the Canonical Gospels for the source
of this passage. The resemblance to the original is much closer
here, than it is for instance in his account of Rahab above, § 12.
The hypothesis therefore that Clement derived the saying from oral
tradition, or from some lost Gospel, is not needed.' (1) No doubt
it is true that Clement does often quote loosely. The difference
of language, taking the parallel clauses one by one, is not
greater than would be found in many of his quotations from the Old
Testament. (2) Supposing that the order of St. Luke is followed,
there will be no greater dislocation than e.g. in the quotation
from Deut. ix. 12-14 and Exod. xxxii. (7, 8), 11, 31, 32 in c.
liii, and the backward order of the quotation would have a
parallel in Clem. Hom. xvi. 13, where the verses Deut. xiii. 1-3,
5, 9 are quoted in the order Deut. xiii. 1-3, 9, 5, 3,--and
elsewhere. The composition of a passage from different places in
the same book, or more often from places in different books, such
as would be the case if Clement was following Matthew, frequently
occurs in his quotations from the Old Testament. (3) We have no
positive evidence of the presence of this passage in any non-
extant Gospel. (4) Arguments from the manner of quoting the Old
Testament to the manner of quoting the New must always be to a
certain extent _a fortiori_, for it is undeniable that the
New Testament did not as yet stand upon the same footing of
respect and authority as the Old, and the scarcity of MSS. must
have made it less accessible. In the case of converts from
Judaism, the Old Testament would have been largely committed to
memory in youth, while the knowledge of the New would be only
recently acquired. These considerations seem to favour the
hypothesis that Clement is quoting from our Gospels.
But on the other hand it may be urged, (1) that the parallel
adduced by Dr. Lightfoot, the story of Rahab, is not quite in
point, because it is narrative, and narrative both in Clement and
the other writers of his time is dealt with more freely than
discourse. (2) The passage before us is also of greater length
than is usual in Clement's free quotations. I doubt whether as
long a piece of discourse can be found treated with equal freedom,
unless it is the two doubtful cases in c. viii and c. xxix. (3) It
will not fail to be noticed that the passage as it stands in
Clement has a roundness, a compactness, a balance of style, which
give it an individual and independent appearance. Fusions effected
by an unconscious process of thought are, it is true, sometimes
marked by this completeness; still there is a difficulty in
supposing the terse antitheses of the Clementine version to be
derived from the fuller, but more lax and disconnected, sayings in
our Gospels. (4) It is noticed in 'Supernatural Religion' [Endnote
65:1] that the particular phrase [Greek: chraesteusthe] has at
least a partial parallel in Justin [Greek: ginesthe chraestoi kai
oiktirmones], though it has none in the Canonical Gospels. This
may seem to point to a documentary source no longer extant.
Doubtless light would be thrown upon the question if we only knew
what was the common original of the two Synoptic texts. How do
they come to be so like and yet so different as they are? How do
they come to be so strangely broken up? The triple synopsis, which
has to do more with narrative, presents less difficulty, but the
problem raised by these fragmentary parallelisms in discourse is
dark and complex in the extreme; yet if it were only solved it
would in all probability give us the key to a wide class of
phenomena. The differences in these extra-canonical quotations do
not exceed the differences between the Synoptic Gospels
themselves; yet by far the larger proportion of critics regard the
resemblances in the Synoptics as due to a common written source
used either by all three or by two of them. The critics have not
however, I believe, given any satisfactory explanation of the
state of dispersion in which the fragments of this latter class
are found. All that can be at present done is to point out that
the solution of this problem and that of such quotations as the
one discussed in Clement hang together, and that while the one
remains open the other must also.
Looking at the arguments on both sides, so far as we can give
them, I incline on the whole to the opinion that Clement is not
quoting directly from our Gospels, but I am quite aware of the
insecure ground on which this opinion rests. It is a nice balance
of probabilities, and the element of ignorance is so large that
the conclusion, whatever it is, must be purely provisional.
Anything like confident dogmatism on the subject seems to me
entirely out of place.
Very much the same is to be said of the second passage in c. xlvi
compared with Matt. xxvi. 24, xviii. 6, or Luke xvii. 1, 2. It hardly
seems necessary to give the passage in full, as this is already done
in 'Supernatural Religion,' and it does not differ materially from
that first quoted, except that it is less complicated and the
supposition of a quotation from memory somewhat easier. The critic
indeed dismisses the question summarily enough. He says that 'the
slightest comparison of the passage with our Gospels is sufficient to
convince any unprejudiced mind that it is neither a combination of
texts nor a quotation from memory' [Endnote 66:1]. But this very
confident assertion is only the result of the hasty and superficial
examination that the author has given to the facts. He has set down
the impression that a modern might receive, at the first blush,
without having given any more extended study to the method of the
patristic quotations. I do not wish to impute blame to him for this,
because we are all sure to take up some points superficially; but the
misfortune is that he has spent his labour in the wrong place. He
has, in a manner, revived the old ecclesiastical argument from
authority by heaping together references, not always quite digested
and sifted, upon points that often do not need them, and he has
neglected that consecutive study of the originals which alone could
imbue his mind with their spirit and place him at the proper point of
view for his enquiry.
The hypothesis that Clement's quotation is made _memoriter_ from our
Gospel is very far from being inadmissible. Were it not that the
other passage seems to lean the other way, I should be inclined to
regard it as quite the most probable solution. Such a fusion is
precisely what _would_ and frequently _does_ take place in quoting
from memory. It is important to notice the key phrases in the
quotation. The opening phrases [Greek: ouai to anthropo ekeino; kalon
aen auto ei ouk egennaethae] are found _exactly_ (though with
omissions) in Matt. xxvi. 24. Clement has in common with the
Synoptists all the more marked expressions but two, [Greek:
skandalisai] ([Greek: -sae] Synoptics), the unusual word [Greek:
mulos] (Matt., Mark), [Greek: katapontisthaenai] ([Greek: -thae]
Matt.), [Greek: eis taen thalassan] (Mark, Luke), [Greek: hena ton
mikron] ([Greek: mou] Clement, [Greek: touton] Synoptics). He differs
from them, so far as phraseology is concerned, only in writing _once_
(the second time he agrees with the Synoptics) [Greek: ton eklekton
mou] for [Greek: ton mikron touton], by an easy paraphrase, and
[Greek: peritethaenai] where Mark and Luke have [Greek: perikeitai]
and Matthew [Greek: kremasthae]. But on the other hand, it should be
noticed that Matthew has, besides this variation, [Greek: en to
pelagei taes thalassaes], where the two companion Gospels have
[Greek: eis taen thalassan]; where he has [Greek: katapontisthae],
Mark has [Greek: beblaetai] and Luke [Greek: erriptai]; and in the
important phrase for 'it were better' all the three Gospels differ,
Matthew having [Greek: sumpherei], Mark [Greek: kalon estin], and
Luke [Greek: lusitelei]; so that it seems not at all too much to say
that Clement does not differ from the Synoptics more than they differ
from each other. The remarks that the author makes, in a general way,
upon these differences lead us to ask whether he has ever definitely
put to himself the question, How did they arise? He must be aware
that the mass of German authorities he is so fond of quoting admit of
only two alternatives, that the Synoptic writers copied either from
the same original or from each other, and that the idea of a merely
oral tradition is scouted in Germany. But if this is the case, if so
great a freedom has been exercised in transcription, is it strange
that Clement (or any other writer) should be equally free in
quotation?
The author rightly notices--though he does not seem quite to
appreciate its bearing--the fact that Marcion and some codices (of
the Old Latin translation) insert, as Clement does, the phrase
[Greek: ei ouk egennaethae ae] in the text of St. Luke. Supposing
that this were the text of St. Luke's Gospel which Clement had before
him, it would surely be so much easier to regard his quotation as
directly taken from the Gospel; but the truer view perhaps would be
that we have here an instance (and the number of such instances in
the older MSS. is legion) of the tendency to interpolate by the
insertion of parallel passages from the same or from the other
Synoptic Gospels. Clement and Marcion (with the Old Latin) will then
confirm each other, as showing that even at this early date the two
passages, Matt. xxvi. 24 and Matt. xviii. 6 (Luke xvii. 2), had
already begun to be combined.
There is one point more to be noticed before we leave the Epistle
of Clement. There is a quotation from Isaiah in this Epistle which
is common to it with the first two Synoptics. Of this Volkmar
writes as follows, giving the words of Clement, c. xv, 'The
Scripture says somewhere, This people honoureth me with their
lips, but their heart is far from me,' ([Greek: houtos ho laos
tois cheilesin me tima hae de kardia auton porro apestin ap'
emou]). 'This "Scripture" the writer found in Mark vii. 6
(followed in Matt. xv. 8), and in that shape he could not at once
remember where it stood in the Old Testament. It is indeed Mark's
peculiar reproduction of Is. xxix. 13, in opposition to the
original and the LXX. A further proof that the Roman Christian has
here our Synoptic text in his mind, may be taken from c. xiii,
where he quotes Jer. ix. 24 with equal divergence from the LXX,
after the precedent of the Apostle (1 Cor. i. 31, 2 Cor. x. 17)
whose letters he expressly refers to (c. xlvii) [Endnote 69:1].
It is difficult here to avoid the conclusion that Clement is
quoting the Old Testament through the medium of our Gospels. The
text of the LXX is this, [Greek: engizei moi ho laos houtos en to
stomati autou kai en tois cheilesin auton timosin me]. Clement has
the passage exactly as it is given in Mark ([Greek: ho laos
houtos] Matt.), except that he writes [Greek: apestin] where both
of the Gospels have [Greek: apechei] with the LXX. The passage is
not Messianic, so that the variation cannot be referred to a
Targum; and though A. and six other MSS. in Holmes and Parsons
omit [Greek: en to stomati autou] (through wrong punctuation--
Credner), still there is no MS. authority whatever, and naturally
could not be, for the omission of [Greek: engizei moi ... kai] and
for the change of [Greek: timosin] to [Greek: tima]. There can be
little doubt that this was a free quotation in the original of the
Synoptic Gospels, and it is in a high degree probable that it has
passed through them into Clement of Rome. It might perhaps be
suggested that Clement was possibly quoting the earlier document,
the original of our Synoptics, but this suggestion seems to be
excluded both by his further deviation from the LXX in [Greek:
apestin], and also by the phenomena of the last quotation we have
been discussing, which are certainly of a secondary character.
Altogether I cannot but regard this passage as the strongest
evidence we possess for the use of the Synoptic Gospels by
Clement; it seems to carry the presumption that he did use them up
to a considerable degree of probability.
It is rather singular that Volkmar, whose speculations about the
Book of Judith we have seen above, should be so emphatic as he is
in asserting the use of all three Synoptics by Clement. We might
almost, though not quite, apply with a single change to this
critic a sentence originally levelled at Tischendorf, to the
intent that 'he systematically adopts the latest (earliest)
possible or impossible dates for all the writings of the first two
centuries,' but he is able to admit the use of the first and third
Synoptics (the publication of which he places respectively in 100
and 110 A.D.) by throwing forward the date of Clement's Epistle,
through the Judith-hypothesis, to A.D. 125. We may however accept
the assertion for what it is worth, as coming from a mind
something less than impartial, while we reject the concomitant
theories. For my own part I do not feel able to speak with quite
the same confidence, and yet upon the whole the evidence, which on
a single instance might seem to incline the other way, does appear
to favour the conclusion that Clement used our present Canonical
Gospels.
2.
There is not, so far as I am aware, any reason to complain of the
statement of opinion in 'Supernatural Religion' as to the date of
the so-called Epistle of Barnabas. Arguing then entirely from
authority, we may put the _terminus ad quem_ at about 130
A.D. The only writer who is quoted as placing it later is Dr.
Donaldson, who has perhaps altered his mind in the later edition
of his work, as he now writes: 'Most (critics) have been inclined
to place it not later than the first quarter of the second
century, and all the indications of a date, though very slight,
point to this period' [Endnote 71:1].
The most important issue is raised on a quotation in c. iv, 'Many
are called but few chosen,' in the Greek of the Codex Sinaiticus
[Greek: [prosechomen, maepote, hos gegraptai], polloi klaetoi,
oligoi de eklektoi eurethomen.] This corresponds exactly with
Matt. xxii. 14, [Greek: polloi gar eisin klaetoi, oligoi de
eklektoi]. The passage occurs twice in our present received text
of St. Matthew, but in xx. 16 it is probably an interpolation.
There also occurs in 4 Ezra (2 Esdras) viii. 3 the sentence, 'Many
were created but few shall be saved' [Endnote 71:2]. Our author
spends several pages in the attempt to prove that this is the
original of the quotation in Barnabas and not the saying in St.
Matthew. We have the usual positiveness of statement: 'There can
be no doubt that the sense of the reading in 4 Ezra is exactly
that of the Epistle.' 'It is impossible to imagine a saying more
irrelevant to its context than "Many are called but few chosen" in
Matt. xx. 16,' where it is indeed spurious, though the relevancy
of it might very well be maintained. In Matt. xxii. 14, where the
saying is genuine, 'it is clear that the facts distinctly
contradict the moral that "few are chosen."' When we come to a
passage with a fixed idea it is always easy to get out of it what
we wish to find. As to the relevancy or irrelevancy of the clause
in Matt. xxii. 14 I shall say nothing, because it is in either
case undoubtedly genuine. But it is surely a strange paradox to
maintain that the words 'Many were created but few shall be saved'
are nearer in meaning to 'Many are called but few chosen' than the
repetition of those very words themselves. Our author has
forgotten to notice that Barnabas has used the precise word
[Greek: klaetoi] just before; indeed it is the very point on which
his argument turns, 'because we are called do not let us therefore
rest idly upon our oars; Israel was called to great privileges,
yet they were abandoned by God as we see them; let us therefore
also take heed, for, as it is written, many are called but few
chosen.' I confess I find it difficult to conceive anything more
relevant, and equally so to see any special relevancy, in the
vague general statement 'Many were created but few shall be
saved.'
But even if it were not so, if it were really a question between
similarity of context on the one hand and identity of language on
the other, there ought to be no hesitation in declaring that to be
the original of the quotation in which the language was identical
though the context might be somewhat different. Any one who has
studied patristic quotations will know that context counts for
very little indeed. What could be more to all appearance remote
from the context than the quotation in Heb. i. 7, 'Who maketh his
angels spirits and his ministers a flaming fire'? where the
original is certainly referring to the powers of nature, and means
'who maketh the winds his messengers and a flame of fire his
minister;' with the very same sounds we have a complete inversion
of the sense. This is one of the most frequent phenomena, as our
author cannot but know [Endnote 73:1].
Hilgenfeld, in his edition of the Epistle of Barnabas, repels
somewhat testily the imputation of Tischendorf, who criticises him
as if he supposed that the saying in St. Matthew was not directly
referred to [Endnote 73:2]. This Hilgenfeld denies to be the case.
In regard to the use of the word [Greek: gegraptai] introducing
the quotation, the same writer urges reasonably enough that it
cannot surprise us at a time when we learn from Justin Martyr that
the Gospels were read regularly at public worship; it ought not
however to be pressed too far as involving a claim to special
divine inspiration, as the same word is used in the Epistle in
regard to the apocryphal book of Enoch, and it is clear also from
Justin that the Canon of the Gospels was not yet formed but only
forming.
The clause, 'Give to every one that asketh of thee' [Greek: panti
to aitounti se didou], though admitted into the text of c. xix by
Hilgenfeld and Weizsäcker, is wanting in the Sinaitic MS., and the
comparison with Luke vi. 30 or Matt. v. 42 therefore cannot be
insisted upon.
The passage '[in order that He might show that] He came not to
call the righteous but sinners' ([Greek: hina deixae hoti ouk
aelthen kalesai dikaious alla amartolous] [Endnote 74:1]) is
removed by the hypothesis of an interpolation which is supported
by a precarious argument from Origen, and also by the fact that
[Greek: eis metanoian] has been added (clearly from Luke v. 32) by
later hands both to the text of Barnabas and in Matt. ix. 13
[Endnote 74:2]. This theory of an interpolation is easily
advanced, and it is drawn so entirely from our ignorance that it
can seldom be positively disproved, but it ought surely to be
alleged with more convincing reasons than any that are put forward
here. We now possess six MSS. of the Epistle of Barnabas,
including the famous Codex Sinaiticus, the accuracy of which in
the Biblical portions can be amply tested, and all of these six
MSS., without exception, contain the passage. The addition of the
words [Greek: eis metanoian] represents much more the kind of
interpolations that were at all habitual. The interpolation
hypothesis, as I said, is easily advanced, but the _onus
probandi_ must needs lie heavily against it. In accepting the
text as it stands we simply obey the Baconian maxim _hypotheses
non fingimus_, but it is strange, and must be surprising to a
philosophic mind, to what an extent the more extreme representatives
of the negative criticism have gone back to the most condemned
parts of the scholastic method; inconvenient facts are explained
away by hypotheses as imaginary and unverifiable as the 'cycles
and epicycles' by which the schoolmen used to explain the motions
of the heavenly bodies.
'If however,' the author continues, 'the passage 'originally
formed part of the text, it is absurd to affirm that it is any
proof of the use or existence of the first Gospel.' 'Absurd' is
under the circumstances a rather strong word to use; but, granting
that it would have been even 'absurd' to allege this passage, if
it had stood alone, as a sufficient proof of the use of the
Gospel, it does not follow that there can be any objection to the
more guarded statement that it invests the use of the Gospel with
a certain antecedent probability. No doubt the quotation
_may_ have been made from a lost Gospel, but here again
[Greek: eis aphanes ton muthon anenenkas ouk echei elenchon]--
there is no verifying that about which we know nothing. The critic
may multiply Gospels as much as he pleases and an apologist at
least will not quarrel with him, but it would be more to the point
if he could prove the existence in these lost writings of matter
_conflicting_ with that contained in the extant Gospels. As
it is, the only result of these unverifiable hypotheses is to
raise up confirmatory documents in a quarter where apologists have
not hitherto claimed them.
We are delaying, however, too long upon points of quite secondary
importance. Two more passages are adduced; one, an application of
Ps. cx (The Lord said unto my Lord) precisely as in Matt. xxii.
44, and the other a saying assigned to our Lord, 'They who wish to
see me and lay hold on my kingdom must receive me through
affliction and suffering.' Of neither of these can we speak
positively. There is perhaps a slight probability that the first
was suggested by our Gospel, and considering the character of the
verifiable quotations in Barnabas, which often follow the sense
only and not the words, the second may be 'a free reminiscence of
Matt. xvi. 24 compared with Acts xiv. 22,' but it is also possible
that it may be a saying quoted from an apocryphal Gospel.
It should perhaps be added that Lardner and Dr. Westcott both
refer to a quotation of Zech. xiii. 7 which appears in the common
text of the Epistle in a form closely resembling that in which the
quotation is given in Matt. xxvi. 31 and diverging from the LXX,
but here again the Sinaitic Codex varies, and the text is too
uncertain to lay stress upon, though perhaps the addition [Greek:
taes poimnaes] may incline the balance to the view that the text
of the Gospel has influenced the form of the quotation [Endnote
76:1].
The general result of our examination of the Epistle of Barnabas
may perhaps be stated thus, that while not supplying by itself
certain and conclusive proof of the use of our Gospels, still the
phenomena accord better with the hypothesis of such a use. This
Epistle stands in the second line of the evidence, and as a
witness is rather confirmatory than principal.
3.
After Dr. Lightfoot's masterly exposition there is probably
nothing more to be said about the genuineness, date, and origin of
the Ignatian Epistles. Dr. Lightfoot has done in the most lucid
and admirable manner just that which is so difficult to do, and
which 'Supernatural Religion' has so signally failed in doing; he
has succeeded in conveying to the reader a true and just sense of
the exact weight and proportion of the different parts of the
evidence. He has avoided such phrases as 'absurd,' 'impossible,'
'preposterous,' that his opponent has dealt in so freely, but he
has weighed and balanced the evidence piece by piece; he has
carefully guarded his language so as never to let the positiveness
of his conclusion exceed what the premises will warrant; he has
dealt with the subject judicially and with a full consciousness of
the responsibility of his position [Endnote 77:1].
We cannot therefore, I think, do better than adopt Dr. Lightfoot's
conclusion as the basis of our investigation, and treat the
Curetonian (i.e. the three short Syriac) letters as (probably)
'the work of the genuine Ignatius, while the Vossian letters
(i.e. the shorter Greek recension of seven Epistles) are accepted
as valid testimony at all events for the middle of the second
century--the question of the genuineness of the letters being
waived.'
The Curetonian Epistles will then be dated either in 107 or in 115
A.D., the two alternative years assigned to the martyrdom of
Ignatius. In the Epistle to Polycarp which is given in this
version there is a parallel to Matt. x. 16, 'Be ye therefore wise
as serpents and harmless as doves.' The two passages may be
compared thus:--
_Ign. ad Pol._ ii.
[Greek: Psronimos ginou hos ophis en apasin kai akeaios osei
perisetera.]
_Matt._ x. 16.
[Greek: Ginesthe oun psronimoi hos oi opheis kai akeaioi hos ai
peristerai.]
We should naturally place this quotation in the second column of
our classified arrangement, as presenting a slight variation. At
the same time we should have little hesitation in referring it to
the passage in our Canonical Gospel. All the marked expressions
are identical, especially the precise and selected words [Greek:
phronimos] and [Greek: akeraios]. It is however possible that
Ignatius may be quoting, not directly from our Gospel, but from
one of the original documents (such as Ewald's hypothetical
'Spruch-sammlung') out of which our Gospel was composed--though it
is somewhat remarkable that this particular sentence is wanting in
the parallel passage in St. Luke (cf. Luke x. 3). This may be so
or not; we have no means of judging. But it should at any rate be
remembered that this original document, supposing it to have had a
substantive existence, most probably contained repeated references
to miracles. The critics who refer Matt. x. 16 to the document in
question, also agree in referring to it Matt. vii. 22, x. 8, xi.
5, xii. 24 foll., &c., which speak distinctly of miracles, and
precisely in that indirect manner which is the best kind of
evidence. Therefore if we accept the hypothesis suggested in
'Supernatural Religion'--and it is a mere hypothesis, quite
unverifiable--the evidence for miracles would not be materially
weakened. The author would, I suppose, admit that it is at least
equally probable that the saying was quoted from our present
Gospel.
This probability would be considerably heightened if the allusion
to 'the star' in the Syriac of Eph. xix has, as it appears to
have, reference to the narrative of Matt. ii. In the Greek or
Vossian version of the Epistle it is expanded, 'How then was He
manifested to the ages? A star shone in heaven above all the
stars, and the light thereof was unspeakable, and the strangeness
thereof caused astonishment' ([Greek: Pos oun ephanerothae tois
aoisin; Astaer en ourano elampsen huper pantas tous asteras, kai
to phos autou aneklalaeton aen, kai xenismon pareichen hae
kainotaes autou]). This is precisely, one would suppose, the kind
of passage that might be taken as internal evidence of the
genuineness of the Curetonian and later character of the Vossian
version. The Syriac ([Greek: hatina en haesouchia Theou to asteri]
[or [Greek: apo tou asteros]] [Greek: eprachthae]), abrupt and
difficult as it is, does not look like an epitome of the Greek,
and the Greek has exactly that exaggerated and apocryphal
character which would seem to point to a later date. It
corresponds indeed somewhat nearly to the language of the
Protevangelium of James, §21, [Greek: eidomen astera pammegethae
lampsanta en tois astrois tou ouranou kai amblunonta tous allous
asteras hoste mae phainesthai autous]. Both in the Protevangelium
and in the Vossian Ignatius we see what is clearly a developement
of the narrative in St. Matthew. If the Vossian Epistles are
genuine, then by showing the existence of such a developement at
so early a date they will tend to throw back still further the
composition of the Canonical Gospel. If the Syriac version, on the
other hand, is the genuine one, it will be probable that Ignatius
is directly alluding to the narrative which is peculiar to the
first Evangelist.
These are (so far as I am aware) the only coincidences that are
found in the Curetonian version. Their paucity cannot surprise us,
as in the same Curetonian text there is not a single quotation
from the Old Testament. One Old Testament quotation and two
Evangelical allusions occur in the Epistle to the Ephesians, which
is one of the three contained in Cureton's MS.; the fifth and
sixth chapters, however, in which they are found, are wanting in
the Syriac. The allusions are, in Eph. v, 'For if the prayer of
one or two have such power, how much more that of the bishop and
of the whole Church,' which appears to have some relation to Matt.
xviii. 19 ('If two of you shall agree' &c.), and in Eph. vi, 'For
all whom the master of the house sends to be over his own
household we ought to receive as we should him that sent him,'
which may be compared with Matt. x. 40 ('He that receiveth you'
&c.). Both these allusions have some probability, though neither
can be regarded as at all certain. The Epistle to the Trallians
has one coincidence in c. xi, 'These are not plants of the Father'
([Greek: phyteia Patros]), which recalls the striking expression
of Matt. xv. 13, 'Every plant ([Greek: pasa phyteia]) that my
heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.' This is a
marked metaphor, and it is not found in the other Synoptics; it is
therefore at least more probable that it is taken from St.
Matthew. The same must be said of another remarkable phrase in the
Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, c. vi, [Greek: ho choron choreito]
([Greek: ho dynamenos chorein choreito], Matt. xix. 12), and also
of the statement in c. i. of the same Epistle that Jesus was
baptized by John 'that He might fulfil all righteousness' ([Greek:
hina plaerothae pasa dikaiosynae hup' autou]). This corresponds
with the language of Matt. iii. 15 ([Greek: houtos gar prepon
estin haemin plaerosai pasan dikaiosynaen]), which also has no
parallel in the other Gospels. The use of the phrase [Greek:
plaerosai pasan dikaiosynaen] is so peculiar, and falls in so
entirely with the characteristic Christian Judaizing of our first
Evangelist, that it seems especially unreasonable to refer it to
any one else. There is not the smallest particle of evidence to
connect it with the Gospel according to the Hebrews to which our
author seems to hint that it may belong; indeed all that we know
of that Gospel may be said almost positively to exclude it. In
this Gospel our Lord is represented as saying, when His mother and
His brethren urge that He should accept baptism from John, 'What
have I sinned that I should go and be baptized by him?' and it is
almost by compulsion that He is at last induced to accompany them.
It will be seen that this is really an _opposite_ version of
the event to that of Ignatius and the first Gospel, where the
objection comes from _John_ and is overruled by our Lord
Himself [Endnote 81:1].
There is however one quotation, introduced as such, in this same
Epistle, the source of which Eusebius did not know, but which
Origen refers to the 'Preaching of Peter' and Jerome seems to have
found in the Nazarene version of the 'Gospel according to the
Hebrews.' This phrase is attributed to our Lord when He appeared
'to those about Peter and said to them, Handle Me and see that I
am not an incorporeal spirit' ([Greek: psaelaphaesate me, kai
idete, hoti ouk eimi daimonion asomaton]). But for the statement
of Origen that these words occurred in the 'Preaching of Peter'
they might have been referred without much difficulty to Luke
xxiv. 39. The Preaching of Peter seems to have begun with the
Resurrection, and to have been an offshoot rather in the direction
of the Acts than the Gospels [Endnote 81:2]. It would not
therefore follow from the use of it by Ignatius here, that the
other quotations could also be referred to it. And, supposing it
to be taken from the 'Gospel according to the Hebrews,' this would
not annul what has been said above as to the reason for thinking
that Ignatius (or the writer who bears his name) cannot have used
that Gospel systematically and alone.
4.
Is the Epistle which purports to have been written by Polycarp to the
Philippians to be accepted as genuine? It is mentioned in the most
express terms by Irenaeus, who declares himself to have been a
disciple of Polycarp in his early youth, and speaks enthusiastically
of the teaching which he then received. Irenaeus was writing between
the years 180-190 A.D., and Polycarp is generally allowed to have
suffered martyrdom about 167 or 168 [Endnote 82:1]. But the way in
which Irenaeus speaks of the Epistle is such as to imply, not only
that it had been for some time in existence, but also that it had
been copied and disseminated and had attained a somewhat wide
circulation. He is appealing to the Catholic tradition in opposition
to heretical teaching such as that of Valentinus and Marcion, and he
says, 'There is an Epistle written by Polycarp to the Philippians of
great excellence [Greek: hikanotatae], from which those who wish to
do so and who care for their own salvation may learn both the
character of his faith and the preaching of the truth' [Endnote
82:2]. He would hardly have used such language if he had not had
reason to think that the Epistle was at least fairly accessible to
the Christians for whom he is writing. But allowing for the somewhat
slow (not too slow) multiplication and dissemination of writings
among the Christians, this will throw back the composition of the
letter well into the lifetime of Polycarp himself. In any case it
must have been current in circles immediately connected with
Polycarp's person.
Against external evidence such as this the objections that are
brought are really of very slight weight. That which is reproduced
in 'Supernatural Religion' from an apparent contradiction between
c. ix and c. xiii, is dismissed even by writers such as Ritschl
who believe that one or both chapters are interpolated. In c. ix
the martyrdom of Ignatius is upheld as an example, in c. xiii
Polycarp asks for information about Ignatius 'et de his qui cum eo
sunt,' apparently as if he were still living. But, apart from the
easy and obvious solution which is accepted by Ritschl, following
Hefele and others, [Endnote 83:1] that the sentence is extant only
in the Latin translation and that the phrase 'qui cum eo sunt' is
merely a paraphrase for [Greek: ton met' autou]; apart from this,
even supposing the objection were valid, it would prove nothing
against the genuineness of the Epistle. It might be taken to prove
that the second passage is an interpolation; but a contradiction
between two passages in the same writing in no way tends to show
that that writing is not by its ostensible author. But surely
either interpolator or forger must have had more sense than to
place two such gross and absurd contradictions within about sixty
lines of each other.
An argument brought by Dr. Hilgenfeld against the date dissolves
away entirely on examination. He thinks that the exhortation Orate
pro regibus (et potestatibus et principibus) in c. xii must needs
refer to the double rule of Antoninus Pius (147 A.D.) or Marcus
Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161 A.D.). But the writer of the
Epistle is only reproducing the words of St. Paul in 1 Tim. ii. 2
([Greek: parakalo ... poieisthai deaeseis ... hyper basileon kai
panton ton en hyperochae onton]). The passage is wrongly referred
in 'Supernatural Religion' to 1 Pet. ii. 17 [Endnote 84:1]. It is
very clear that the language of Polycarp, like that of St. Paul,
is quite general. In order to limit it to the two Caesars we
should have had to read [Greek: hyper ton basileon].
The allusions which Schwegler finds to the Gnostic heresies are
explained when that critic at the end of his argument objects to
the Epistle that it makes use of a number of writings 'the origin
of which must be placed in the second century, such as the Acts, 1
Peter, the Epistles to the Philippians and to the Ephesians, and 1
Timothy.' The objection belongs to the gigantic confusion of fact
and hypothesis which makes up the so-called Tübingen theory, and
falls to the ground with it.
It should be noticed that those who regard the Epistle as
interpolated yet maintain the genuineness of those portions which
are thought to contain allusions to the Gospels. Ritschl states
this [Endnote 84:2]; Dr. Donaldson confines the interpolation to
c. xiii [Endnote 84:3]; and Volkmar not only affirms with his
usual energy the genuineness of these portions of the Epistle, but
he also asserts that the allusions are really to our Gospels
[Endnote 84:4].
The first that meets us is in c. ii, 'Remembering what the Lord said
teaching, judge not that ye be not judged; forgive and it shall be
forgiven unto you; pity that ye may be pitied; with what measure ye
mete it shall be measured unto you again; and that blessed are the
poor and those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of God' [Endnote 85:1]. This passage (if taken from our
Gospels) is not a continuous quotation, but is made up from Luke vi.
36-38, 20, Matt. v. 10, or of still more _disjecta membra_ of St.
Matthew. It will be seen that it covers very similar ground with the
quotation in Clement, and there is also a somewhat striking point of
similarity with that writer in the phrase [Greek: eleeite hina
eleaetheate]. There is moreover a closer resemblance than to our
Gospels in the clause [Greek: aphiete kai aphethaesetai humin]. But
the order of the clauses is entirely different from that in Clement,
and the first clause [Greek: mae krinete hina mae krithaete] is
identical with St. Matthew and more nearly resembles the parallel in
St. Luke than in Clement. These are perplexing phenomena, and seem to
forbid a positive judgment. It would be natural to suppose, and all
that we know of the type of doctrine in the early Church would lead us
to believe, that the Sermon on the Mount would be one of the most
familiar parts of Christian teaching, that it would be largely
committed to memory and quoted from memory. There would be no
difficulty in employing that hypothesis here if the passage stood
alone. The breaking up of the order too would not surprise us when we
compare the way in which the same discourse appears in St. Luke and in
St. Matthew. But then comes in the strange coincidence in the single
clause with Clement; and there is also another curious phenomenon, the
phrase [Greek: aphiete kai aphethaesetai humin] compared with Luke's
[Greek: apoluete kai apoluthaesesthe] has very much the appearance of
a parallel translation from the same Aramaic original, which may
perhaps be the famous 'Spruch-sammlung.' This might however be
explained as the substitution of synonymous terms by the memory. There
is I believe nothing in the shape of direct evidence to show the
presence of a different version of the Sermon on the Mount in any of
the lost Gospels, and, on the other hand, there are considerable
traces of disturbance in the Canonical text (compare e.g. the various
readings on Matt. v. 44). It seems on the whole difficult to construct
a theory that shall meet all the facts. Perhaps a mixed hypothesis
would be best. It is probable that memory has been to some extent at
work (the form of the quotation naturally suggests this) and is to
account for some of Polycarp's variations; at the same time I cannot
but think that there has been somewhere a written version different
from our Gospels to which he and Clement have had access.
There are several other sayings which seem to belong to the Sermon
on the Mount; thus in c. vi, 'If we pray the Lord to forgive us we
also ought to forgive' (cf. Matt. vi. 14 sq.); in c. viii, 'And if
we suffer for His name let us glorify Him' (cf. Matt. v. 11 sq.);
in c. xii, 'Pray for them that persecute you and hate you, and for
the enemies of the cross; that your fruit may be manifest in all
things, that ye may be therein perfect' (cf. Matt. v. 44, 48). All
these passages give the sense, but only the sense, of the first
(and partly also of the third) Gospel. There is however one
quotation which coincides verbally with two of the Synoptics
[Praying the all-seeing God not to lead us into temptation, as the
Lord said], The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak
([Greek: to men pneuma prothumon, hae de sarx asthenaes], Matt.,
Mark, Polycarp; with the introductory clause compare, not Matt.
vi. 13, but xxvi. 41). In the cases where the sense alone is given
there is no reason to think that the writer intends to give more.
At the same time it will be observed that all the quotations refer
either to the double or triple synopsis where we have already
proof of the existence of the saying in question in more than a
single form, and not to those portions that are peculiar to the
individual Evangelists. The author of 'Supernatural Religion' is
therefore not without reason when he says that they may be derived
from other collections than our actual Gospels. The possibility
cannot be excluded. It ought however to be borne in mind that if
such collections did exist, and if Polycarp's allusions or
quotations are to be referred to them, they are to the same extent
evidence that these hypothetical collections did not materially
differ from our present Gospels, but rather bore to them very much
the same relation that they bear to each other. And I do not know
that we can better sum up the case in regard to the Apostolic
Fathers than thus; we have two alternatives to choose between,
either they made use of our present Gospels, or else of writings
so closely resembling our Gospels and so nearly akin to them that
their existence only proves the essential unity and homogeneity of
the evangelical tradition.